Strikes Authorized At United

Merger At Issue, Flight Attendants Say

Don't Do It, Carrier Warns

Ignoring warnings that any job action would be illegal, United Airline's flight attendants have authorized periodic strikes if the airline proceeds with its acquisition of US Airways without a waiver from the union.

The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents United's attendants in their press for a 30 percent pay raise, said the 95 percent of those casting ballots voted in favor of the job action. Nearly 75 percent of the airline's 26,000 attendants voted.

United reiterated Tuesday that any job action would violate federal labor laws and the contract between the two parties, which runs through 2006. A provision in the 10-year contract allows for the flight attendants to seek a raise this year.

"The AFA announcement today is an inappropriate attempt at a midcontract pay raise by threatening actions that the AFA knows very well it is not entitled to initiate under the law," said Bill Hobgood, United's senior vice president. "United is not going to be coerced in this way."

Rono Dutta, United's president, warned that the airline won't endure another summer of flight disruptions. Last summer, more than 26,000 flights were canceled as the airline's pilots refused overtime and called in sick to protest a lack of progress in contract talks. The airline capitulated in August, granting pilots raises of up to 40 percent.

"We learned a major lesson from last summer. We cannot tolerate significant disruptions," Dutta said.

United's flight attendants, the highest paid in the airline industry, can earn as much as $55,000 a year.

"The flight attendants have voted to uphold our contract and protect our careers," said Linda Farrow, president of the union. "If United illegally moves forward with its merger transaction, we will strike with CHAOS."

CHAOS--Create Havoc Around Our System--calls for flight attendants to disrupt operations without warning by forcing the cancellation of individual flights.

Such actions wouldn't be expected to start until later this spring, when federal regulators are expected to decide whether to approve United's purchase of US Airways.

United said it is prepared to take any steps necessary, ranging from individual suspensions or firings to seeking huge fines against the union, to protect its operations. The fines could be similar to those that were levied by a federal judge against pilots of American Airlines when they called in sick over American's 1999 acquisition of Reno Airlines.

Attendants, however, say United's purchase would violate a section of their contract that requires United flight attendants on any United aircraft. United intends to operate US Airways and United as separate airlines until the operations can be merged, which may take as long as five years.

"We have contended from the very beginning that this [union action] was illegal," said Andy Plews, a spokesman for United. "Just having a ballot does not make it legal."